Posts Tagged ‘diet’

Mayor Rob Ford weighing in for the first time in January (Toronto Sun files)

“I don’t care about the weigh-in, I’m not even dieting anymore, it’s gone, it’s water under the bridge,” Mayor Rob Ford admitting he’s quit his own Cut the Waist campaign during his NEWSTALK 1010 radio show on Sunday, May 27, 2012.

Ford made the revelation he’s off his diet one day before he turns 43.

Starting out at 330 pounds, Ford was aiming to lose 50 pounds between January and June. His weight has been stuck around 310 pounds for most of the challenge.

He’s cancelled his last two weigh-ins (story here) and he’s rarely a happy camper when he steps on the scale (story here).

When Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, started this campaign back in January (story here), Ford seemed optimistic he could shed the weight and no longer be (as he often calls himself) “300 pounds of fun”.

“I look forward to rising up to the challenge and making a healthy change in my life,” the mayor said at that time.

While critics at the time called Ford’s weight-loss challenge a cheap publicity stunt or a distraction from the budget debate unfolding at the time, Ford was adamant he wanted to slim down for his own family.

“I’ve got young children and this is not healthy, you can’t be running the city, you can’t be doing all this at 330 pounds,” Ford pointed out in January.

Doing it at 314 pounds would be no picnic either.

Hopefully, he finds a way to start cutting his own waist again but I expect, if he does, it will be a less public affair next time.

Don Peat

Don Peat is the City Hall bureau chief for the Toronto Sun. He covers municipal affairs at Toronto City Hall, a beat that has him writing about everything from garbage to transit to taxes to multimillion-dollar spending scandals.